Hiding Growing Up
by Insert a Catchy Penname Here
Summary: Henri was accused of child abuse. Adelina and Marina found the orphanage. Sandor taught Nine to drive at a young age. Things like these led to who the nine young Garde were in their teenage years. But before they were great, they had to grow up on the run.
1. Shopping- Nine

_**Author Note:** _So, I got some pretty epic reception for "Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now." :) Therefore, to show you more of the little Garde, I give you..."Hiding Growing Up" ! :D

* * *

"San-dor..."

I groaned at the whine coming from my side. It's not like I didn't trust a babysitter with Nine- I didn't trust Nine with a babysitter. That left me with no choice than to take the kid with me grocery shopping. Now I know how my mother and father felt when they took me shopping, because the kid is acting just like I know I did.

He's restless. He's impatient. He's curious. And above all, he wants to mess with EVERYTHING.

"Sorry, buddy," I now pluck the toy action finger he was holding up to me with a pleading face, "not today."

"Buttt..." He whines, jumping up as best he can to try grabbing the toy, "buttt I _want_ it!"

"Come on," I urge, setting it on the nearest shelf and taking his arm.

He begins twisting as I drag him along. As if buying bananas and cereal for the road wasn't bad enough on a warm, sleepy Sunday, Nine isn't helping my mood. Finally, I scoop him in one arm while at the dairy section; he was begging for some chocolate milk. With a reluctant sigh, I move to set him in the seat of our cart, knowing what would ensue. Sure enough, a shriek follows my intentions as he catches on.

"Nooo!" He's kicking and punching at my arm, "I'm not a baby!"

I sigh again. I guess he's not- He turned five two days ago. Even so, he's still pretty small in size; he can fit. His ego is bigger than his physical size, though, and he's acting like I'm trying to torture him. It's like when I try to get him to take a nap. Or when I try to get him to eat vegetables. Or when I try to get him to stop talking when I'm driving.

Or most of the time, really.

"Whatever." I reply tiredly, plopping him down best I can. I manage to get his backside in, but his legs are kicking wildly in denial of putting them through the holes built for riding.

"Nooo!" He howls, kicking my hand forcefully as I grab an ankle.

People are beginning to stare. Flashing them a nervous grin, I turn back to my wailing charge. By the way he's screaming, you'd think I was torturing him; I groan. The sound intrigues him briefly, giving me a vital second to pull his leg through a space. This only upsets him more, but his sharp kick aimed at my stomach gives me a golden chance to snatch his other ankle. By positioning my stomach away from the space he could kick me in with his other foot, I slide in his left leg, trapping his lower body. Instantly, his flailing becomes more frantic and angry.

"Let meeeee _goooo_!" He shrieks.

Now I'm fairly certain all of Wal Mart is staring at us. Groaning even louder, I start to push the cart- and Nine- along. He's squirming, pummeling his tiny, power-packed fists against my chest in protest. By the time we make it to the check-out isle, my ribs are aching and he's glaring at me.

"Your son?" The old cashier asks gruffly, eyeing Nine with distaste. Now that I think back, I think he was one of those watching him have a mondo meltdown.

When I nod mutely, he snorts, "My father would've worn my butt out by now. I had the good mind to take that initiative when he was squawling like a brat."

At those words. Nine's eyes widen. I get the feeling his Grandpa spanked him at least once- I know my father wore me out with a belt a few times. Now I glare t the man, flipping him a twenty.

"He's not your son, so stay out of our business," I state sharply; Nine giggles.

"My father would've worn you out, too," the man retorts bitterly, "and washed your smart mouth."

"My father would've punched you in the face." I feign innocence as I say this, slipping our bags on one arm, "so shut up before I take the same initiative."

Nine giggles again as the man sneers. Smirking, I offer one arm to my Garde; he reaches up eagerly. Wrapping my forearm around his ribs, I allow him to latch around my neck as we head for the truck.

"Sandor..." He drags my name out innocently, "would you ever spank me?"

"Nah," I shake my head, plopping him down in the passenger seat, "but I do think you earned yourself a visit from..."

I pause for effect. Eyes wide, he keeps as gaze on me as I'm setting down the groceries, and even more so as I get in the driver's seat.

"From who?" He tilts his head.

Smirking, I reach my hand over and tickle his stomach lightly, "The Tickle Fingers!"

He giggles loudly in protest, smacking my hand lightly as I start the engine. Smiling, I begin our journey again; he's pretty cute when he's giggling like that. He can be a pest, sure, but he's still my little buddy.

Maybe if people like that crabby old fart knew that, they wouldn't be so quick to judge.


	2. First Mass- Seven

"You have to be very quiet," Adelina tells me as she pulls my hair back into a ponytail.

"But I don't understand Latin..." I whisper, clinging tightly to her arm, "please stay with me."

We're in this brand new, big scary Church, and we've been here for a whole week. Now we have to go to this thing called Mass. Adelina said it was supposed to be a place where you had to pray a lot and listen to this man talk for a long time. She also said that if I talked, I would get in big trouble.

As we sit in the pew-thingies, I watch the man at first. He looks all serious and like he never smiled. When I look up at Adelina to ask why he's so glum, she puts her finger to her lips. That means I gotta hush up for now. The man starts talking with that Latin stuff; I'm bored. When I look over at the Sisters, I see Sister Dora scratching her leg while listening to the man. Her face is all innocent, but I don't we're supposed to move. I giggle at that.

A lot of people stare at me, especially Sister Dora and Adelina. I get real scared now. Just because I laughed a little probably means I'm in trouble. For the rest of the Mass, I hide my face in Adelina's chest. When people start to leave, she pulls me to a big office.

"I'll take care of her," she tells Sister Dora, who doesn't look happy at us.

Making a mean face, she stomps to the kitchen. I stare at Adelina as she pulls out a big wooden thing with a handle.

"You have to be quiet during Mass, Marina," her voice is soft, "or else one of the other Sisters will use this paddle on you."

"What...what does it do?" I whisper back.

"They'll hit your bottom with it." She says, "three times, really hard."

"But won't that hurt?"

"Yes, it will hurt very much. That's why you have to be quiet during Mass, okay?" Adelina says as she puts away the paddle.

"Okay..." I feel tears in my eyes. I'm really glad Adelina protected me, because of Sister Dora got me, I would have to get the paddle used on me.

"Come on," she takes her thumb and wipes a tear, "let's go and do our chores, okay?"

I nod and take her hand. Even if the Sisters are super mean and strict, I know Adelina will protect me forever. And one day, we'll both go back to Lorien and never have to see this awful place again. But for now, I just have to be a good girl and do what they say.

I don't want to get paddled, after all.


	3. Side of the Road- Eight

"But...but I don't want to do it while you're watching."

I give a smile small to my Garde. Even though we've been around each other for a little more than a year, we're still kind of getting used to each other. We apparently are not at the stage where he wants to take a whizz in front of me just yet; I can kind of relate. It was kind of weird for me to do my 'thing' in front of my own old man the first time he let me explore Lorien's forests with him, but I got used to it. I know that Eight can, too.

"You haven't got anything I haven't seen before, kiddo," I smirk lightly, "go on."

He squirms in place. We're a few hours outside of the Indian mountains right now; it'll be perfect for both of us to hide out in, but we're not anywhere close to a town right now. Not only did I need to pee, but just moments ago, Eight was wriggling like he was going to wet himself. All of a sudden, though, he "can't go."

"B-but..." He sputters weakly, "can you...please just turn around?"

I'm about to tell him that men can take craps in front of other men, but his expression is strained. He obviously honestly really needs to relieve himself, and he's more willing to wet his pants than do it in front of me. Raising my hands up briefly in surrender, I turn to my own bush. The streets aren't very busy at this lazy afternoon hour; we probably won't be bothered from where we are on the side of the road.

Unzipping my jeans, I allow myself relief. From the corner of my eye, I note Eight finally doing the same, his expression relaxed. Rolling my eyes slightly, I finish up and pull back up my clothes. Eight, however, looks reluctant.

"What do I...um...wipe with?" He's blushing now.

"Don't worry about it right now," I shrug, "we'll take care of all that at a motel tonight. You only went Number One, right?"

He blushes harder with a meek nod, "But...Grandma said not wiping would make me all sick and dirty."

"Well, you're a man." I state encouragingly, "so pull up your pants and give me a manly face."

For an example, I bare my teeth and flex my (nonexistent) muscles. Grinning, he redresses and tries mimicking my ridiculous pose. He's pretty cute, having his nose all scrunched up and his stick arms brought in. Even at this age, he's more stronger and built than me; it's almost scary. But for now I just grin, ruffling his curls and swinging open the passenger door.

"Get in, Fellow Man," I wink, "we've got a lot of driving ahead of us."


	4. Alias- Four

"In this town, your name is Jack Stone, alright?"

"But my name isn't Jack..." I poke out my lower lip in confusion, "my name is F-"

Brandon puts his hand over my mouth super duper fast. "Shhh! Just say your name is Jack Stone of anyone asks, got it?"

"Then...then what's your new name?" I ask softly. I dunno know why we need new names; can we really do that?

"Call me 'Dad'," he tells me, standing up so he's real tall over me again.

"But...why can we all of sudden change our names?" I'm super duper lost, "those aren't our names."

"They call them "aliases"," he tells me, getting on one knee in front of me, "they're not our real names, but it's what everybody is going to call us while we're here. They're...pretend names."

"Why do we do that?"

"So nobody know who we really are." He stands up real tall again.

"Can my name be Awesome Guy?" I ask. That sounds much better than Jack Stone.

Brandon- I mean Dad- rolls his eyes. When he does, I frown real big. If he rolls his eyes, it means he's being grumpy again. One time I asked for some chocolate because I washed my hands all by myself, but after he rolled his eyes, he said it was a dumb question.

But how can asking to be Awesome Guy be a bad question?

"No," he shakes his head.

"B-but...Jack Stone is dumb!" I say in a high voice.

"Well, maybe you can be Awesome Guy next time," Brandon Dad takes my arm, "let's get you ready for bed. We both need some sleep."

"Yay!" I squeal, really happy, "I get to be Awesome Guy later!"

Brandon Dad doesn't roll his eyes this time. He actually even smiles while I cheer. I knew that it wasn't a dumb question!


	5. Are you human? -One

She was honestly beginning to drive me crazy.

On our near year-long journey from Lorien, all of the nine young Garde were entergetic and bubbly. Most of them loved to adventure, just like my girl, Bellintine. We'd all long since began calling her One on the ship, but her new alias in our newest town was Jaime. Though I'm not sure what came of the other eight, she's still just as curious and rebellious as she was on the ship.

That's a horrible thing, for she is the first to die. Therefore, I have to keep her inside with me. This, of course, means she likes to whine and beg me to do something.

It was times like this I turned to the Internet.

She was now sitting in front of the laptop screen, her face eager with curiosity. Through a little clicking around, I found a website filled with educational games; it should help her learning as well as keep her mouth shut for a while. While she's sitting over there, I'm scanning through map books and brochures for something a little nicer. We have to stay as hidden as possible, but we also have to keep our health at interest. That's when I hear her surprised, worry-filled gasp.

"What?" I ask quickly, getting to my feet. I'm unhinged for a purpose; I watched my two sons die about two years ago, and hate the thought of seeing her life end as well.

"This...this website!" she jabs a finger at the screen, "it...it asked me if I was human!"

My heart nearly swells out of my throat, "_What_?"

I'm behind her in a heartbeat. Sure enough, a small white textbox is popped on the screen as clear as die. As well as a bunch of random, disorganized numbers and letters, there's a single line printed above it all.

_**Are you human? **_

_The Mogodorians have found a way to track us, _I think frantically, _what do I do? What if they've already tracked us? _

Slowly, I begin typing. As I enter it into the system, I feel like sobbing. I've just sealed away both of our fates with blind hope, on a hope they'd think we _were _humans. Both of us are going to-

"Yay, Mario! I love this game!" One crows happily, starting to move the mouse around and tap keys.

All I can do this stare at the screen. Some cartoon little plumber is running around with stars...I don't understand human entertainment. Unless the Mogs have a sick sense of humor, we're safe for now.

_Maybe they know we exsist..._I muse, _then again, what does entering a code have to do with being human?_

Shaking my head as One stays content in front of her screen, I go back to a log cabin near the ocean. Stupid Internet...


	6. First Tooth- Six

"KATARINA!"

I stare at the blood all over my hand. One of my teeth just popped out of my mouth when I was eating my apple, and now there's a bunch of red on my fingers. My mouth is all weird-tasting; it's even worse than cough medicine! When Katarina comes running in, I start to cry super hard.

"I'm falling apart!" I tell her, showing her the tooth, "I'm gonna _die_!"

She suddenly looks kinda happy. How can she be happy?! I'm dying here!

"Oh, Six," she shakes her head with a smile, picking me up and sitting me down by the sink, "don't worry about the blood, okay? You just lost your first tooth."

"I can _see that_!" I whine, "I'm falling apart! What if I lose my arm next?!"

"You're not," she actually _laughs_, "it's a part of growing up. It means you're getting to be a big girl."

I stop crying when she says that. I'm getting to be a big girl? That's good...Then I'll be big and strong. Then I'll be able to go back to Lorien, and then I'll be super happy and superhero! Wow!

"So...what me do with this?" I wrinkle my nose, "my mouth tastes worse than medicine."

She laughs again, taking my tooth, "Get a cup and wash out your mouth at the sink, okay? I'll show you what you can do with this."

That night, when I got in bed, she gave it back to me in a little pouch-thingy, "Alright. Now, if you put this under your pillow, the tooth fairy will come and leave you money for when you wake up."

"The Tooth Fairy?" I gasp, then pout, "wait...what kinda fairy wants a dumb old tooth? Does she eat them or something?"

Katarina laughs _again_; I'm not that funny! "I'm not sure, but you still get money. But only if you go to sleep first!"

I pout. I don't wanna sleep...it's dumb! But I do want money, so I close my eyes. When I finally woke up again, it's all light outside. Sleep is still dummy...then I remember when Katarina said. I throw back my pillow, and a whole dollar was under my pillow!

"KATARINA!" I say loudly, grabbing it and running to her bed, "KATARINA, I GOT MONEY!"

"That's wonderful," she smiles all sleepy, picking me up and hugging super close, "I'm glad, baby. What do you say we do with your dollar?"

"Ice cream!" I clap, "pleeeeaaasee?"

"Your money," she tells me with a little laugh, getting out of the bed and putting me on her shoulder.

I laugh and clap again. Yay ice cream! Wow, I hope I lose another tooth soon! Hm...maybe I could knock one out on the door frame coming up...


	7. Friends- Two

"Daddy. can Lucy come over?"

Two- right now known as Amy- asks this question innocently. It breaks my heart for the answer I have to give her- it truly does. She's such a sweet-natured girl, her nature extremely timid and her tears easy to come by. Her intentions are golden, and she's full of intellegence, though she is only six; she's on the forth book of a teen series. It's not her fault she'd want some friends in the new town we're in any more than it's her fault she's so intellgent.

It proves she's innocent.

"Not today, honey," I shake my head at her as she clutches the hand of her little friend.

"Well...Mama said that Amy could come over to my house with your 'mission," this Lucy offers, her eyes full of hope. My Garde's light up with the same kind of hope instantly.

"Not today, girls," now I simply take Two's shoulders as gently as I can, pulling her away slowly.

"Aww..." they chorus glumly.

_I'm so sorry, _I think, perhaps even more sad as I'm forced to watch my practical daughter's friend trudge without as much as a goodbye, _but I can't risk her safety for anything on Earth or Lorien._

"Why, Daddy?" Two sticks out her lower lip, tears budding in her eyes.

"To keep you safe," I embrace her to keep the water from her orbs from reaching me, "some day, you'll be able to go over to your friends' houses all the time, okay? Just not today."

"Soon?" she sounds a little hopeful once more.

Unable to tell her the pending truth, I nod.

"Awesome!" she smiles, running off to the books she's found interest in now that the human child is gone.

_Gosh, I'm just so sorry..._


	8. Whiskey- Ten

"Papa, what that?" Ella inquires innocently from where she was playing with her Barbie dolls on the floor.

With trembling fingers, I set the bottle full of the burning liquid on the counter. Deep inside, I know I really do need to stop before I become completely unsober and scare her to death as well as put us both at extreme risk. The rest of my inside, though, only craves more. It numbs the stress and worry that constantly covers my thoughts.

"Don't worry about it," I assure her quietly, nudging it away with my fingertips.

"But Papa, it looks tall," she studies the bottle, "it looks tall and 'portant."

"Well, it's not very important," my voice is distant and I know it. She can tell that, too.

Slowly, she gets to her feet. She hasn't been walking very long- she was a late starter thanks to the apparent travel lag she endured from being on a ship the first year of her life- and is still rather clumsy. As if to prove it, she nearly falls over my knee trying to stand in front of me. My hands reach to steady her, but their own shakiness, I'm not sure how much of a help I'm being. Looking at me with her big brown eyes, she asks me what's wrong.

_Everything sometimes..._

That's the honest response, but instead I say, "Nothing, tot."

I ruffle her hair when I say her nickname, making her giggle and try to balance herself on my leg, "Papa, I wove oo..."

"Well, of course I love you, too," I just smile shakily, lifting her over my face and a little air under her stomach, making her giggle loudly with joy and reassurance.

Even as I smile, I know that one day she'll know what I was doing tonight. She'll get even more brilliant than she is; I'll see to that personally, but it will include me eventually being found out. She's only three right now- she's still young and innocent. Maybe I'll be able to perserve it, but more than likely not. She would have been a perfect citizen of Lorien...

I swig down the burning liquid again as soon as her back is turned on the floor.


	9. Bathtime- Four

"It's too hot," I pout up at Henri, inching away from the tub.

"You said it was fine a minute ago," he doesn't have a happy face on, but I hate taking baths. Besides, he _always _makes it no fun and it's really dumb 'cause I don't have any dirt on me.

"Well, it not no more," I shake my head.

He just shakes his head back at me. All of a sudden, he grabs the bottom of my shirt and pulls it right off! I squeal and try to keep my pants on, but before I can say anything, I'm in the tub!

"Henri!" I squeal again, trying to get up.

He puts his hands on my shoulders, though, and I can't get up at all. I'm super pouty has he grabs the soap, starting to rub my back withit and making it really bubbly. He scrubs me all over my body and I pout a lot until he starts to put the soap on the bottom of my feetsies. I giggle super duper loud and wiggle around.

"Does it tickle, buddy?" Henri puts on a happy face.

I nod and giggle harder when he picks up my other feetsie, scrubbing it too. I grin as he keeps cleaning me up all up, and soon I'm real clean. He picks up a bottle and I pout.

"No shampoo..." He always gets it all in my eyes!

"Sorry, buddy," he squirts it in his hand and puts it all in my hair. I pout big down and squeeze shut my eyes, covering them until he rinses me off so I'm soapy or stinky.

"Yay!" I giggle, then he starts to pick me up, "no no! Me wanna pway with bubbles!"

"It's time for bed," he keeps tryin' to pick me up.

Getting super pouty, I splash him. He makes a face and spits out some the water, and I giggle real hard, splashing him all over. After a little bit he scoops me up around the waist, standing me on the potty lid and wrappin' a towel around me. I'm still giggly as he does it, though.

"I gived oo a bath too, Henri!"


	10. Penthouse- Nine

It's a hell of a time too, but I am seriously beginning to regret letting Nine look with me at potential houses.

"That one's too small!" he complains, making a face and glancing at me, "besides, I can't play football or train or whatever in a backyard like _that_."

Rolling my eyes, I click onto the next place. It's one of the list-things some lonely soul made out of Google images, because some of these places look like total shit. (House in the dump yard anybody?) Restlessly, I reach up to scratch my face and being reminded yet again I have to grow out this ridiculous beard to cover up the sword scar. The _least _I can do is use our practically endless funds so the kid and I can live it up some.

"That looks like a Barbie house," Nine makes a face at the pink and yellow paint.

I roll my eyes, "We can always paint it over." I click to look inside, but he just makes fun of the painting on the inside and all of the girl toys scattered around until I click away.

After a while, I finally just go to Google Images myself and take a look. I find a great place for 'all your vacationing desires for the whole family- The John Hancock Center. Apparently the place is loaded with restaurants, pools, gambling centers, and has a hotel sitting on top of it. Upon further digging on the Internet, I learn that there's only 100 floors, but a lot of people don't go up that high because of all the attractions below. A slow smirk begins to spread across my face.

"What? It's a bunch of hotel rooms!" Nine points out with his lower lip forming a pout, "I thought you said no more hotels after this one!"

"Yeah, but what if they were _all _ours?" I smirk a bit wider and pick up the phone, "hello, yes? I'd like to speak to the manager about adding onto the John Hancock personally."

* * *

Nine coughs as we enter the 100th floor. I've finally purchased it, and it didn't take that long to build the last story with the advanced pay I offered instantly. Now they're simply doing the finishing touches, and we're all free to enjoy to our heart's content. I hand Nine his identity for Chicago- Stanley Worthington, as I opposed to my Damian Worthington. Since we barely look alike, I've decided he'll be my 'nephew' who follows me as a business man who hit a hot deal and can live it large.

"Go claim your room," I tell my Garde, waving away the still-lingering saw dust in the air, "I've got some work to do."

As he runs off to explore, I go to the elevator and insert the key for our reserved floors. Nobody will be able to come up here unless they have a key, and we're the only two. Smirking to myself, I remove the button control panel's cover and begin wiring.

* * *

"Hm?" I snort a bit when something hits me in the side.

The kid is standing there in his expensive new pajamas, looking reluctant. I sit up in the bed, switching on the light with the push a button and squinting in the brightness."What is it?"

He bites his lower lip, shifting his weight and finally confessing, "It's really big."

I chuckle airily, "It's a penthouse, kid. Get used to it."

Shutting off the light, I lay back down and stretch out a bit. Even as I resume my comfortable position, I can tell the kid hasn't gone back to his room yet. I lift my head slightly and raise an eyebrow through the blackness. That's about the time I hear a sniff, followed by a small puff of breath that comes from trying to withhold emotions.

"Nine, is it bothering you or something?" I inquire, "nothing's going to get us here; I've seen to that personally."

"B...but it's still big!" He half snaps as he says this, but it's blandly obvious he's upset.

It occurs to me that we've had to share the bed on more than one occurrence in the hotels we've gone to for 'limited spacing', and that this is the first time in about three months that he's had his own space. This _is _the first time since the ship he's had his own room, and there's about forty around us that are still completely empty of life.

_No wonder he's so freaked out. _

Lifting up the sheets, I offer, "Come on."

"I...I can get in?" He peeks over his shoulder from where he was going to trudge away.

I merely keep the sheets open, giving him the inspiration to crawl in and curl up at my side. His face is, as expected, damp, so I wrap one arm around him and roll to my other side. After a few moments, I hear him emit a relaxed sigh, and begin to task of falling back asleep.


	11. Strength- Three

My mouth drops while I watch Hunmek lift up a big log.

"Wow!" I gasp, "how are you doin' that?!"

He chuckles. We've been going everywhere for two years, and now we're in this forest in Kenya. It's supposed to far away from all of the other Garde, but we can't find anybody around here so we can live. We're going to build a fort for now, but Hunmek says that he'll find somewhere so we can live with others for a little while. Now he's lifting up these fallen trees with his arms, and it's really cool how easy he's doin' it.

"I guess I'm just really strong," he tells me while he sets it on the ground with the rest of the logs.

I look at the pile, then grab one of the logs and try to pick it up. It doesn't even lift a little bit, and I pout. Suddenly, I pick it up...but I pick me up. I squeal 'till I realize it's just Hunmek, then I pout and drop on the ground.

"What's the matter, bud? Why'd you stop working?" he asks.

I pout even worse, "It's not fair! I wanna be strong like you and lift up big logs!"

He chuckles again and gets on one knee in front of me, "Three, you're six. You're not supposed to be able to lift up big logs."

"But..." I stick out my lower lip really far for him, "but I _wanna_!"

"Don't worry about it." He ruffles up my hair and goes back to lifting logs, so I just pick up sticks and pout.

_Not fair. _

* * *

"We're champions, bud," Hunmek grins and I do to as we look at our hut.

He did most of the liftin' and tyin', but I tied a lot of stuff together and made beds almost all by myself. I grin really big for him and give him a high five, but I see him wince after I do that. I frown and take his hand outta the air, looking. He's got brown splinters in his hand, and he winces when I touch one. I frown more and more, taking him inside and picking up the tweezers. One time I got one of those in my knee, so he used them to get it. It hurt some, but it felt good after he sprayed it and put a band aid on it.

"What're you doing?" he says softly.

"Makin' your boo boo better," I tell him and pinch out the bad splinters. He winces but doesn't cry, so I kiss the spots all better and wrap up his hand. "All better!"

"That's right," he smiles, "see, Three? You're not big and strong yet, but you're strong in knowing how to take care of me."

I grin, "I'm strong, too?!"

"All the way, little bud," he tells me and ruffles up my hair.

YAY!


	12. Movie Night- Six

"I say we have a movie night," I smile to my Garde over dinner, making her break into a wide, toothy grin.

"Really?" she asks hopefully. Upon my nodding, she literately jumps out of her chair and starts to dance around the room in joy, making me laugh to her excited giggling.

About half an hour later, we're curled up together on the couch with the first movie of the night plays. I chose it, and considering is _Titanic_, it'll take up enough of the night so that Six will fall asleep somewhere in the middle of her pick of movie. She's already growing quite bored with it, but I've got the stars in my eyes and know it. These Earth actors are beautiful in their own way, and the love story that goes with this tragic Earth past event is absolutely gorgeous and heart wrenching.

My spirited little girl does not agree.

"Katarina," she whines, "I don't like it."

"Shh," I say softly, cuddling her closer to my chest as Rose and Jack meet for the first time.

She scowls and begins to squirm, eliciting a sigh from me. No matter how hard I've tried over the past two years, she's simply not interested in the same things I am when it comes to media. She's more into explosions and fighting than romance and comedy, and nothing I show her changes her mind. She continues her struggles the more I try to quiet her and try to get her to quiet down, so I'm pretty much forced to cave and let her find her own movie.

So what does she pick?

_Final Destination. _

One of the most bloody, deadly movies I think I have ever seen.

Of course she loves it, but I finally shut it off and shake my head, "That's not good for you, Six."

She's going to go through horrors much worse in the future. It's better to keep her innocent and as tempered as possible before she's forced into a warrior, no matter how much she whines. She settles for pouting about this matter, so I switch onto a regular T.V. show and cuddle her in my lap.

"How about some Powerpuff Girls instead?" I offer. She adores the show for the girls fighting crime, and I like it because it holds good messages and distinct humor.

"No. You said movie night!" she protests.

It's times like this I thank the humans for inviting the Powerpuff Girl movie.


End file.
